Emma Stone and Nathan Fielder might be reuniting for a chess cheating scandal movie
Fielder, Stone, and A24 are reportedly teaming back up for Checkmate, about a recent high-profile chess cheating scandal
Aux News Nathan Fielder
Hot on the heels of their Showtime series The Curse—which is just revving up what’ll likely be a pretty extensive Emmys campaign—Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone are reportedly close to lining up their next project together. THR reports tonight that A24 is on the verge of securing the film rights to Checkmate, a book proposal about a high-profile chess-cheating scandal by writer Ben Mezrich, who previously penned the books that ended up generating The Social Network and last year’s Dumb Money. Fielder and Stone are in talks to direct and produce the project, respectively, along with Stone’s husband, Dave McCary.
And yes, before you ask—your mind racing through all the other extremely prominent chess scandals of recent years we might be talking about here—this is the one where chess grandmaster Hans Niemann was pelted by internet pundits with memes that he was using anal beads to help him cheat in tournament matches. (Accusations that were put to bed with a settlement in a court case last year, by the way, with all involved stating they don’t believe Niemann ever cheated in in-person games or tournaments, using any manner of… device.) The accusations shook the competitive chess world in 2022, after world champion player Magnus Carlsen resigned from a game with Niemann, tacitly accusing his opponent of cheating.
Mezrich’s 16-page book proposal about the scandal apparently kicked off a heated bidding war in Hollywood, with names like Ron Howard and Taron Egerton being tossed around in different arrangements by various studios. To hear THR tell it, A24 snaked them all, tapping its Curse connections to bring Fielder and Stone on board. (Of course, it’s also worth nothing that all of this is still at the tentative “in-talks” phase, albeit the kind of “in-talks” where it sounds like it’s probably going to happen.)
Provided this all goes forward, it’d be Fielder’s first film as a director; he previously directed or co-directed nearly every episode of Nathan For You, The Rehearsal, and The Curse. It’s fascinating to see him and Stone deepen their creative connection, too; The Curse showed they had a very simpatico sensibility, and it’ll be interesting to see where it takes the duo next.
13 Comments
Any word on when the second season of The Rehearsal is coming out?I mean I’ll watch this too but I’d really like to see what he has planned for a follow-up there.
there’s been no news since it was renewed almost 2 years ago, but knowing fielder he could have completed it in secret already.
And yes, before you ask—your mind racing through all the other extremely prominent chess scandals of recent years we might be talking about here—this is the one where chess grandmaster Hans Niemann was pelted by internet pundits with memes that he was using anal beads to help him cheat in tournament matches. (Accusations that were put to bed with a settlement in a court case last year, by the way, with all involved stating they don’t believe Niemann ever cheated in in-person games or tournaments, using any manner of… device.)
“Well, Mr. Niemann, we’ve now entered the process of discovery in this court case to clear your name.”“OK- wait, what’s with the rubber gloves?”
I really enjoyed The Curse and would watch anything by Fielder and Stone, a team I’d never in my wildest dreams think would work well together, let alone end up working together at all.
I would love to see Fielder returning to projects that are mostly comedic with an occasional heavy dose of sentimentality or cynicism, but I also think the concept of Fielder somehow turning chess anal beads into one of the most stress-inducing, cringeworthy things ever is incredibly funny.
Close this deal now. I wanna see this movie.
Why do we need a movie?The chess speaks for itself.
Plus Sunny already gave us the best possible version of this story…https://youtu.be/g9IjA-yd9fw
Take. Your. TIME.
Came for this, leaving satisfied, etc.But this would have Emma Stone, so that makes it worthwhile.
*Emily Stone
he’s probably a decent chess player, since he graduated from one of Canada’s top business schools with really good grades.